All is well; words she had spoken when all wasn’t well; she climbed onto her mule with haste and rode at the pace her servant set, remembering as she rode the feel of her dead child in her arms.
As she approached her destination, Gehazi ran out to greet her, asking if all was well. Once more, the words left her tongue; all is well. Although her mind longed to speak out the truth, she refused to let her mouth say anything except those three words, not until she got to the man of God.
The Shunammite woman suffered the greatest loss any mother could experience; her child was healthy one moment, and the next, he was dead. How she reacted to her crisis, however, is a phenomenal one and one we can learn so much from.
Her Reaction
A natural reaction to the loss of your child would be hysterics; it would be understandable if she had thrown herself on her bed and sobbed, but we see from the scriptures that this was not how she reacted. Instead, she called her servant to saddle their mules and told him to set the pace for their ride to the man of God.
Her husband wondered at her need to see Elisah, but she did not tell him why she hastily left for her journey; the only words she gave him were all is well. Three words that anyone looking in on her situation would have called her a liar for speaking. In the spiritual realm, her words were ones of truth.
Watch Your Words
She believed God would work through Elisha, and she kept her tongue from speaking anything that contradicted this. Once she finally made it to Elisha, she clung to his feet and uttered only enough words for him to assume something had happened to her son. However, she never once spoke out that her son was dead.
How we first react to a crisis is key to whether we will overcome it. We need to understand that every word we speak that contradicts what we are desiring is a hindrance to our miracle. You may not think that your words hold any weight, but I promise you they do.
Out of the Abundance of the Heart
Matthew 12:34 tells us that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. If you are speaking words that contradict your desired result, they have embedded themselves in your heart; once they embed in your heart, they embed in your beliefs. This is why it is essential that we put down every thought that contradicts the Bible before it can ever embed itself.
Check Your Motives
Another thing I want to note is this: Christians have gotten a little too comfortable sharing every detail of what is coming against them, under the guise of asking for prayer. Please don’t get me wrong, I believe we need to share our burdens and ask for prayer, but we need to be approaching it from a different angle. Instead of stating the different ways, the devil is coming at you, tell the prayer partner what promises you are standing on and have them stand in agreement with you.
You don’t need to rehash everything the doctor told you or speak out about how everyone in your family has died of your diagnosis and then follow it up with, but God is the great physician. Why was God at the end of that sentence instead of the beginning? You just gave 5 minutes to the devil and 30 seconds to God.
Speak Life
My point here is, If we want better results, we must speak better words, and by better words, I mean the word of God. Let’s face it; speaking negativity does us no good except gaining compassion from others.
But God’s words are spirit and life. When we speak His words, we begin to believe them, and faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God.
Example
I am still learning this, but I am trying to be more conscious about how I am speaking when the devil is attacking. Instead of calling my mom to tell her I have a headache, I will keep it to myself, speak against it, and command my head to line up with the word. If I feel I need her to stand with me, then that is what I will say. I will tell her that I am fighting a headache and have been speaking against it, and will she stand with me.
Check Your Motives
Sometimes we need someone to help us in our fights, but we must become more particular about the motive behind sharing what we are going through. Is it to complain, gain pity, or air it out? Then it doesn’t need to be spoken; you are giving the devil glory with every word that contradicts the word of God. Again, I am hardly perfect at this, but it is something that God has been showing me, which leads to us walking in victory.
It Works
An example of this working in my own life is with my dog. Aria has had extremely adverse reactions to bee stings; she has broken out in hives and had her eyes swollen almost shut.
So the other day, when we were walking at the park when a bee stung her, my first internal reaction was fear that we would have to go through another ill reaction, but I remembered what I was learning.
I touched the sting and commanded her body in the name of Jesus not to react to the sting, to have no pain, and for the venom to leave her body.
For the first time, Aria had no ill reaction to being stung. We have the authority to release the power of God and life with our words or the power of fear and death.
Relationship Matters
Something else to note about the Shunammite woman is that she had a relationship with Elisha. Therefore, when her child died, she knew where to turn. I am certain she witnessed the power of God work through him on many occasions and knew she could trust him and God to raise her child.
When we are in an intimate relationship with God, we begin to know him and recognize the power that he works through us. It is important in these last days that our relationship with God is a top priority because we have no power without His power.
Cling to Jesus
The last thing I want to note about the Shunammite woman is that once she got to the man of God, she clung to his feet and refused to leave him.
When we have a crisis, we must cling to Jesus. We stay in the word of God, in His presence, and refuse to walk in the flesh. Don’t visit worry, anxiety, or fear; instead, stay so occupied at the feet of Jesus that you have no time for anything else.
So, the next time you have a crisis, remember the Shunammite woman; pick your words very carefully, know who to turn to with them, and cling to Jesus. You might begin to see your results look very different than they once did.
.https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Kings%204%3A8-37&version=ESV https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+12%3A34&version=ESV
Randall Freeman says
Good word Carrie my friend!